The Belmond-Klemme girls basketball team saw a tight game expand into a double digit deficit inside the closing minutes and the B-K boys battled from tip to buzzer and lost in the final second of the game at Lake Mills in Top of Iowa Conference West action on Friday. The Lake Mills girls won 54-44 and the Bulldog boys won 61-60 over the Broncos as aired on 104.9 KLMJ.
In the girls game, Lake Mills got out an early advantage, B-K tied the game at 16-16 with just over a minute left in the first quarter. The Bulldogs went on a quick 5-0 run to take the lead back at 21-16 heading to the second. Lake Mills grew their advantage to 32-25 entering halftime. Trailing 41-33 to begin the fourth, the Broncos got off on the right foot with a 5-0 scoring run to get within a 41-38 margin. The Bulldogs ended their scoring drought and outscored the Broncos,13-6 from that point to secure home win.
B-K Head Coach James Severson on the difference in matchup and step up performance by seniors.
“Lake Mills had a good game plan and they were hitting shots early on. We made a good run for it in the second half, to cut it to within three, just couldn’t quite get over that hump. We got there a couple times and had some kids off the bench help us a little bit with that run. We got close we just couldn’t quite get over the hump,” says Severson. “Again, our senior leadership showing up for what they do and trying to encourage some of those younger girls to find some of those open slots to take those shots when they can.”
Adasyn Lamb had 21 points and Shaylee Aguilera added 11 points for the Broncos.
In the boys game, the Broncos played shot for shot with Lake Mills throughout the first half and trailed by a slim 28-25 margin at the half. The Broncos attacked the rim and put in extra effort on the offensive boards in the third quarter to take a 48-45 lead. The Bulldogs in the fourth tied the game at 57-57 with just over a minute left and took a 60-57 lead with just under 20 seconds left. B-K tied the game at 60-60 with just over 10 seconds left on a Cash Young triple. Lake Mills scored the go-ahead bucket on a free throw with one second remaining to go up 61-60.
Broncos Head Coach Justin Meyer on battle to the finish with Bulldogs and the Broncos scoring depth.
“We normally run zone, had to switch to man. The boys responded really well. We had a lead in the fourth quarter. Cash Young comes in, hits a three with less than 10 seconds left to tie the game. Unfortunately the ball didn’t bounce our way and whistles didn’t go our way down to the end. Unfortunately we were just on the wrong end of it tonight,” says Meyer. “We are best as a team when we are five to six deep that can score in any one possession. That’s what we’re doing a lot of right now and the boys are buying into that.”
Griffin Paulsen had 15 points including two triples and Brody Heifner added 11 for the Broncos.
The Belmond-Klemme girls (6-6, 3-6 TIC-West) will host Eagle Grove on Tuesday. The Bronco boys (7-6, 5-5 TIC-West) will host Clarion-Goldfield-Dows on Monday.